By the time you read this, the 2012 elections will be over, and you will either be optimistic about the future or wary of planning for 2013. Too often, business owners allow external factors to influence their strategic decisions; they lack confidence in their ability to create their own destiny.

Ask yourself this essential question: Do I really want to make a profit? Before you answer too quickly, really think about how you operate your company.

We are reactive creatures, driven by subconscious patterns that are triggered by the people, situations and events around us. Our subconscious minds control more than 90 percent of our behavior, and the patterns that drive our daily lives are automatic. So, you may think you want to make a profit, while the patterns that are triggered cause you to focus on what you don’t want to happen and your actions actually create the opposite of what you believe to be your intentions.

Throughout 2012, we have been inundated with documentaries, books and Internet stories about the end of the world as we know it. To survive in our physical world, we rely on the five senses: sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch. These senses feed information from the three dimensions we perceive to the brain, which filters, stores and connects the data to assign importance and meaning to the experiences. You make decisions based on a lifetime of these perceptions that are established as beliefs. Beliefs are not universal truths, but to you, they are the framework you use to operate your business and your personal life.

But your senses are limited. For example, you don’t see the full spectrum of light waves, and you cannot hear all of the frequencies of sound or smell all of the odors around you. Also, you have taught your brain to filter out much of what you perceive, and your interpretations of what happens to you are based on beliefs that may be limiting your potential. So, I ask you, do you really want to make a profit, or are beliefs keeping you focused on a less-than-optimal profit goal?

Some people don’t really believe that they deserve to be wealthy, so they settle for a modest income and call it their destiny. The political debate about the 1 percent is largely focused on a negative connotation of wealth and the belief that the rich are not worthy of their possessions. Some believe that redistribution is necessary, and the concept of fair share influences policy-making. It might appear that the American Dream has become distorted and that there is something morally wrong about making too much money. In such an environment, it is imperative to focus consciously on what you wish to earn without succumbing to the implication that you don’t deserve it.

The end of the Mayan calendar on Dec. 21, 2012, does not represent the end of the world, but our transition from the three-dimensional world we can perceive through our sensory systems, through the grasp of time (the fourth dimension), and into an elevated consciousness that takes us into the fifth dimension. In the 1960s, the rock group The Fifth Dimension recorded the hit song, “The Age of Aquarius,” from the musical “Hair,” and most people had no idea what they were talking about. Now we know that they referred to the transition from the first 2,000 years of Christianity (the age of Pisces) to a new age represented by shifts in the positions of the planets, as confirmed by astronomers.

As an electrical contractor, you already know about transitions of this kind. You have adapted from hardwired electrical systems to wireless communication and cloud-based data storage. We have also been through the “consciousness raising” of the late 20th century when gender roles shifted and long-standing beliefs were challenged. Think about how you perceive the world in which you operate your business and how quickly you have adapted to radical shifts in technology. Apply that same flexibility and deliberate action to embracing abundance and increasing the profitability, growth potential and value of your business.

You will need to become conscious of what is holding you back. First, focus on what you want to achieve instead of dwelling on the problems around you. The mind operates as an “attractor field,” and you will attract more of what you focus on consciously. Now, consider the ways in which your thinking is limiting your decisions. What would you do if you knew you could not fail? That’s what you want to think about. When you focus on your competitors, your problem customers and the suboptimal economic environment, you are making excuses and attracting negative results.

Focus on attracting abundance, and you will become more profitable because you deserve it. So get out of your own way, and experience your own shift into the new consciousness.

NORBERG-JOHNSON is a former subcontractor and past president of two national construction associations. She may be reached at ddjohnson0336@sbcglobal.net.